Five art experiences will always stick to this bizarre year for me. And one thing really scared me. Whether the worst is now behind us? At least the most extraordinary is still on view until 5 February 2017. A chronological overview of what was unbelievable, unthinkable, inconceivable, unbelievable and perhaps untrue. Much of it, by the way, will be in 2017...
In the election of best film 2016 by the Dutch film press, La La Land and Toni Erdmann finished in shared first place. Tonio is the Dutch favourite.
In contemporary dance, artistic leaders are often in place for decades, at least in the Netherlands. This week, Leo Spreksel announced his departure from Korzo, as of September 2017. After 29 years, the director and programmer of dance at the theatre and production house in The Hague is calling it a day, because "in the Netherlands, commercialisation pushes away the voice of artists: procedures and formats are...
Chris Keulemans visited the 5D InHuis Festival and was deeply impressed by what people with disabilities managed to achieve in theatre. Here is his report, for under the Christmas tree. About humour without pity, and totally unexpected displays of muscle. - Was Thomas born that way? - Well, I don't think he cut his legs himself... The jokers...
Geert Wilders was quick off the mark, after the attack in Berlin, posting a photoshopped picture of Angela Merkel with blood on her hands. The message was all too clear. Even more opportunistic and shocking was the list posted half a day later by Martin Bosma, media and culture spokesman. Bosma's tweet included a list of names. Caption "These...
On 20 December, the general membership meeting of Coöperatief Cultureel Persbureau unanimously decided to accept a cooperation offer from The Co-operative/House of Journalism and Reporters Online. This is an important step in the development of independent cultural journalism. Culture Press, as the Cooperative Cultural Press Agency is known on the internet and social media, is growing significantly as a result. The...
Nine-year-old Amira Willighagen was when she won the TV talent show 'Holland's got talent' in 2013 with opera arias. Her Puccini aria 'O mio babbino caro' still attracts millions of viewers on YouTube. What makes Amira so immensely popular? Is it her singing skills or is it her adorable childlike appearance? In Huizen, a village in the Gooi region, she gave a concert with...
Two of the finest stories in world literature have recently been reissued. The Dead (1914) by James Joyce and The Clerk Bartleby (1853) by Herman Melville have effortlessly stood the test of time. They are still wonderful reads. 'His soul slowly ebbed away as he heard it gently snowing through the universe and gently snowing in the...
Each month, in the (Un)heard series, I present extraordinary sound that does not go unnoticed and unsung. In this December edition: Brume, Cinema Perdu, Emanuele de Raymondi, Mark Fell, Zeno van den Broek and James O'Callaghan. Like a vise around the neck Brume - Mother Blast (LP, Grautag) Nicolas Moulin's Grautag label guarantees dystopian soundscapes. Those landscapes the label presents...
Austrian bass Günther Groissböck received the biggest applause in Parsifal on Thursday 15 December, for his role as Gurnemanz. A close second was Russian soprano Elena Pankratova. She signed for the vocal part of Kundry, who took shape on stage in the person of assistant director Astrid van den Akker. However, judging by the deafening cheers, the audience was the...
Het Veem is a small but important theatre and unofficial production house overlooking the Houthavens in Amsterdam. The house has long been home to internationally operating contemporary performing arts. A place where the artist and his or her experimental work are still central. Since Anne Breure became director in 2014, it bears the addition House of Performance. With...
You instinctively flee from death, but in 'Have I been here before' choreographer Marie Goeminne actually brings death close. Not threatening, but close to your skin and hand in hand with life. She shows death and life in an intimate entanglement. Three dancers merge in a stream, concentrated and vulnerable, in which life arises,...
More than 120 million books have sold bestselling author Wilbur Smith - two thousand Wembley stadiums full. His steady recipe - violence, magic, mystery, adventure, hunting and sex - has kept his readership enthralled for more than half a century. To keep his output high, he has recently started working with co-authors. Only the 'Egypt novels', which include his new book Pharaoh, he writes himself....
Amsterdam's oldest and perhaps most beautiful building combines quite a few functions. Although tourists are dominant these days, believers still celebrate the love of God there every week. And even though the former Nicolaaskerk no longer provides space for fishermen to mend their nets, organ concerts are still given there, since the fourteenth century. Handing out bread is not...
Despite the crisis in the performing arts, there is still a lot of young talent roaming the Netherlands and beyond. So much that keeping track is impossible. After all, who can visit all the festivals, from Festival Boulevard to Noorderzon, from the Café Theatre Festival to Festival Cement and from the Amsterdam Fringe Festival to the Zeeland Nazomerfestival? And then also exactly those four or five performances from the...
The public takes no part in the ongoing debate about the role of art in society. Government and art-makers argue or engage constructively with each other. Visitors' opinions are not sought. Hence this contribution. Of course, my voice is just one of thousands. I can only give my own opinion. Last week, I attended the play...
Before I started studying, I had oceans of time to read. Besides high literature like The World of Sofie by Jostein Gaarder, I also read books from the Bruna Top Ten. This included Dan Brown's Angels & Demons series, the fourth part of which was recently filmed. Director Ron Howard, however, addressed the ethical issue with which the book ends...
Press release: From 1 January 2017, a guideline for artists' fees will be introduced in the Netherlands. Interest group Platform BK is one of the initiators of this guideline. The guideline applies to exhibitions without a sales purpose. The guideline aims to professionalise the contract practice between art institutions and artists and contributes to improving the income position of visual artists. The directive will be released on 8...
For his documentary on the refugee issue, Guido Hendrikx chose an unusual form. In a schoolroom in Sicily, a teacher played by an actor confronts the migrants with the hard facts about Europe.
During her lifetime, Astrid Lindgren received almost seventy-five thousand letters from fans all over the world. The creator of headstrong characters such as Pippi Longstocking, the Lionheart Brothers and Ronja the Robber's Daughter was at least as headstrong herself. This is clear from the voluminous biography This Day, One Life. Back to Näs, where Astrid Lindgren grew up and still lives on. Playing, playing, playing...
In art, you work because of your passion, not because of the money. That is so, that was always so. In art, it is even suspect if you care about money. And if you do worry about money once, it immediately comes out rotten. Are you going to shout about culture, march der your...
Tomorrow, Culture in View, the annual OCW conference for the cultural sector, is dedicated to diversity. Although the topic was already raised by Rick van der Ploeg in the late 1990s, diversity within the cultural sector anno 2016 still lags far behind the changing demographic composition of the population. Diversity should no longer remain just an agenda item. Under the motto: No...
I tell you here why you should go to see Parsifal, and not even just because of the object by Anish Kapoor that plays a part in it. And you could also go to theatre one day, by the way. With The Girls. Fel theatre by our very best theatre company (according to Americans). The National Opera, Parsifal (opera) Four years ago, I attended Pierre Audi's...
The cost of crisis Small heroes is the title of the new novel by Almudena Grandes, one of Spain's greatest writers. And little heroes it is all about: the novel is actually a collection of interrelated stories about people like all of us, only these people all live in Madrid. Rich and poor, young...
The 2016 Autumn Consultation. This annual evening of debate around burning issues in the film industry revealed above all that the industry is far from being on the same page.
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